Between Growth and Security : Swedish Social Democracy from a Strong Society to a Third Way

Jenny Andersson (1, 2)

1 CEE - Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (Sciences Po, CNRS)
2 MaxPo - Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies

The notion of social policy as a productive investment and a prerequisite for economic growth became a core feature in the ideology of Swedish social democracy, and a central component of the universalism of the Swedish welfare state. However as the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) embarked on its Third Way in 1981, this outlook on social policy as a productive investment was replaced by the identification of social policy as a cost and a burden for growth. This book discusses the components of this ideological turnaround from Swedish social democracy's post-war notion of a strong society, to its notion of a Third Way in the early 1980s.

Mots clés: Swedish social policy; Swedish social democracy; Swedish Social DemocraticParty; Socialism; Social security; Mixed economy; Sweden; Sweden -- Economic conditions -- 1945-; Sweden -- Economic policy

Domaines: Science politique

Jenny Andersson. Between Growth and Security : Swedish Social Democracy from a Strong Society to a Third Way. Manchester University Press, pp.160, 2006, Critical labour movement studies, 9780719074394. ⟨hal-01383534⟩